The Conquest Of Hardships : A Toradora! after story
by Hanaan64
Summary: This is a story with a new character and a Ryuuji/Taiga. Ryuuji and Taiga have gotten married and 2 years after their marriage they meet a sudden new face. As all the characters are financially broke they choose to help each other as they are both in dire need of money. But as they change their ways to piracy, they also meet some new enemies, a group feared by everyone with sense.
1. Chapter 1: Facing Reality

"I see. Yes. Is there nothing you can do?! You have some of the highest tech available goddamnit! I'm sorry, I just… I understand. So there is something you can do? Do it then! Wait a sec, how much? 50 m-m-million yen! How am I supposed to pay for that!? Well how long can you keep her in your hospital? A month? Wait that's not enough time. Argh.. fine. Don't worry I'll get the money by then, just please keep her alive and do everything you can to protect her from any further dangers.

Hazuto was probably a more than average kid, he passed all his tests with flying colours. He had dark coloured hair which basically went out in all directions, he looked like he had just woken up and was dragged to school. His mother and father had both passed away in a fatal car collision caused by car theft. It had only been two years since this fatal accident happened, he could take the sadness and despair as he had been 16 then. But his sister was another story, his sister was in that car crash and miraculously survived. She was the only family he had left and Hazuto would do everything in his power to try and keep her alive. She had been in a coma ever since and did not know anything about what happened to her parents or herself. She had a slim chance of survival but somehow made it, but the cost to keep her alive was astonishing. He had 3 different jobs with a generous pay out of pity from the managers when they had heard his devastating past. He could only manage to live off the money he had for himself and the amount that contributed to her sister's survival. Only until recently the doctors and nurses at the hospital had informed him that they could break her coma. It was a new piece of technology that had worked amazingly on many people but was very expensive. There was no way Hazuto could make 50 million yen in the course of one month, heck the only people who make those amounts of money were drug dealers, corrupted agencies and plain old pirates. "Wait…pirates?" He had watched and read about pirates, they came in all shapes and sizes but he had learnt something while acquiring this knowledge. Never trust a pirate. But the pay was good, and he could certainly have enough to pay for the hospital fees. "I mean come on, being a pirate isn't that bad." he thought. He had never hurt a person and his intentions were good-hearted but what about the penalty? A new law had been passed recently that the government will not give any money out to normal people to pay for damage and things of such. The world was changing quickly and in order to survive the people had to change. Hazuto picked up his trusty swiss-army knife and took a step out of the door. "Don't worry Akiko, this is for you!"


	2. Chapter 2: Get a boat then

"Ryuuji, I've been waiting for aaages. Where are those damned pork cutlets!" shouted an infuriated Taiga.

"You know, haven't you heard about this new law? The government isn't giving out any money to people like they used too. We're on our own and you declined payments coming in from your father. We need the money Taiga, and it's only a matter of months before we can't even pay our own rent."

"Uhm..Ryuuji there is something I forgot to tell you. We got a letter this morning from the owner of the house, the..uh..rent has been...increased."

"I-increased? You've gotta be kidding, i can barely keep up with the normal rent, how are we supposed to keep up with an INCREASED RENT!?" rambled Ryuuji as he started getting mad.

"Calm down you mongrel. We'll think of something, oh by the way did i mention that we need to pay it in the next month?"

"...Are...You...Serious?"

"Obviously why else would i be telling you..?"

"Where are we going to get the money from? What about Inko-Chan? What about Yasu-."

"Calm..down. Don't worry we can get some jobs"

"WHAT KIND OF JOB GIVES OUT THAT MUCH MONEY IN THE COURSE OF A MONTH?"

"Piracy, drug dealing and corrupted agencies." Taiga said in "a matter of factly" voice.

"Oh and you're suggesting we go around shooting innocent people for their wallets?" Ryuuji answered sarcastically.

"No you dog, listen to what i have to say. I don't want it to come to this either but it's not like we have any other options. We could do honest piracy."

"'Honest piracy'?"

"Yeah, instead of killing them we could do it honestly. Like for example, we could have a duel and whoever wins get's all their money."

"I don't know, it isn't like us to suddenly start going into piracy."

"Fine you can go rot here you stupid mongrel. If you wanna come with me you better leave the house in the next hour. I'll meet you at the coastline, there we can get a boat and start our life of crime."

"You mean 'honest' crime."Ryuuji chimed in.

"Whatever."

The couple set off for the beach but got a surprise when they reached there. The dockmaster had only one available boat left which was taken by a boy who looked about 18. He had dark hair which went out in basically, all directions. He was paying the man for the boat and looked as if he was struggling to find any more cash.

"Hey Ryuuji! That dog is stealing our boat! Quick let me at him, don't worry i'll knock him senseless!"

"Hey Taiga stop! That man is most probably an honest man, besides he can't even pay for the boat. Hold on i got an idea, why don't we help him pay for it?"

"Are you stupid...? WE NEED THAT BOAT NOT HIM!"

"Yeah but he's bound to help us if we help him pay for it, besides it's cheaper for us."

"Yeah..but...fine."


	3. Chapter 3: Next stop the sea!

Hazuto had walked all the way to the nearest docks he could find and he would not go back home for a long time. As he strolled to the dockmaster he was informed that they only had one boat left. It was a wooden boat with a motor on it.

"And this is the only boat left?"

"Yes, and you can either rent it for the day or buy it forever. But remember it has a tracking device on it and if you go over the days limit the police will be after you."

"Oh damn it!" Hazuto thought.

"Where exactly is this tracking device?"

"Why, it's on the motor. You see that bluey sort of cube thing. That's the tracking device and it will probably fool anyone as it looks like a solar panel."

"Yeah, fool anyone." Hazuto smirked as he started paying for the boat's rent. As he was taking out some yen he realised that he didn't have enough. He started struggling and looked in all his pockets and came out with reciepts. He had an idea but didn't know if it worked. He started to pretend to look for money while edging his way close to the boat. As he was doing this he was interrupted by a small girl about 5ft and a man about the same age and size as him. He had blue hair cropped downwards while the little girl had long hair and an angry face.

"Don't worry, we'll help pay for it." The blue haired man said.

"What are they doing? Heh, they must be stupider than the dockmaster." Hazuto thought.

"Hey you sausage dog!" The little girl growled. "You better let us on this boat since we helped pay for it or else.." When the midget had said this she pulled out a wooden katana.

"Hey Taiga, can you hold the keys for a sec- TAIGA WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING" The blue-haired man shouted.

"Ah, so her name must be Taiga." Hazuto thought.

"Uhm, sir. Can you keep your daughter under control?" Hazuto asked.

"D-d-daughter? So you think i'm his daughter just cos i'm small? You asked for it!" Taiga screamed as loudly as she could. Hazuto was dumbfounded by this sudden rage but he had been in this situation before. He expertly dodged to the side as Taiga's katana went flying past his face.

"Hey, you know little girls shouldn't be playing with manly swords." Hazuto teased.

" Call me little again and i'll slice your head right off!" Taiga spat out in disgust.

"If you can reach it." Hazuto smirked. When Hazuto had said this comment Taiga had completely lost it. She started swinging everywhere and knocked down almost everything she hit. Although not a single attack had come near Hazuto. Being lanky and had given him a good advantage over his bite-sized opponent, he could easily take a stride out of the way. After about 30 seconds of slashing, Taiga had become very tired. She finally picked up her katana, reared up for a ferocious attack and swung as hard she could. Hazuto didn't even try to move out the way. Instead of simply caught the katana mid-way to his head.

"Hey, what are you doing! Let go!" Taiga panted.

"Not unless you calm down, little girl." Hazuto reponded.

"You bastard! Call me little again and i'll show you what I can do to you, you stupid sausage dog!" Taiga always had a way with dog insults. She never really swore that often unless she was extremely angry, which right now she was. Instead she just called people a type of dog, her most popular insult was to Ryuuji as she called him a mongrel almost every day.

"All right, stop it Taiga. You need to calm down." The blue-haired man intervened with Hazuto and Taiga and snatched the katana from both of their hands.

"Your lucky Ryuuji stopped me. If he didn't then you would never see the light of day!" Taiga screamed, but all 3 of them knew she was wrong.

"I'm sorry about my wife's insolent behaviour. I do hope we can forget about this incident."

"Hm, well i'm not one to hold a grudge. Apology accepted. Now i'm guessing your names are Taiga and Ryuuji?

"Stalker! How did you know that!" said Taiga as she accused Hazuto.

"Well for one, i'm not a stalker. Secondly you two both said each others' names while you were attacking me with your stick."

"S-stick? I'll show you what this 'stick' can do."

"That's enough Taiga. Just take a break and sit down." Taiga looked at Ryuuji in disgust and gave Hazuto a death stare. She then turned to Ryuuji and said "Fine then you mongrel." She sat on one of the chairs she had clumsily hit while swinging her katana.

"Well sir, since you know our names why don't you tell me yours."

"Hazuto's the name. Now what do you guys want with my boat?" Hazuto inquired.

"Well, we were hoping since we helped pay for this boat, maybe you might let us on it."

"I like how your brain works. Fine by me. But may I ask, what's your business on the seas?"

"Uhh...err..Well it's a long story but i'll tell you the short of it. You know how to government made that new law? Well we need to pay our rent in the next month and it isn't exactly cheap. So we turned to the last available option which gives this amount of pay in the course of a month. We...uhh, turned to honest piracy."

"Honest piracy? Eh? Well you could say i'm doing the same thing as you, my sister is in hospital and she's in a coma. The hospital have the equipment to wake her up but they can only keep her in the hospital for a month. But I have to find a lotta cash in that time. Although i would never really steal or kill someone, it looked like the only job left was piracy."

"Well," Ryuuji said "This month isn't exactly getting any longer. So let's stop hindering and be on our way."

"Ok! Next stop, the sea!" Hazuto exclaimed cheerfully.


	4. Chapter 4: The first haul

The trio had set off for the sea and had not said much their journey, just the occasional line from Taiga as she announced that she was hungry. Ryuuji had planed for this and Ryuuji just being Ryuuji had made a lot of rice with meat. He knew she wouldn't be full so he made her favourite too. Pork cutlets. Hazuto had not said much and waited till they were far away from the coastline. He was watching this couple intently, and he often thought to himself " _How can this man stand this woman, she treats him like dirt. But I think she treats dirt nicer than him._ " After they were quite far away from the coastline Hazuto had took out his swiss army knife. Ryuuji had started to eye him intently wondering what he was doing. It looked like he was cutting some sort of solar panel off the motor.

"Hey what are you doing! That solar panel probably gives energy to the motor." Ryuuji said in a distressful manner.

"I'm saving our lives that's what i'm doing. That 'solar panel' is a tracker and I rented this boat so I can only keep it for a day. But i'm a pirate and I am not going to keep it for a day. I'm going to keep it until we find another boat."

"Ok then sausage dog. How does the motor get power then?" Taiga questioning him gleefully as she knew he would be stumped.

"It's hydroelectrically powered. It basically means it gets energy from the water. I don't really want to go into details." Hazuto said proudly.

Taiga blushed and hid her face in Ryuuji's chest. "I'm going to sleep." She announced. Although they all knew she was wrong and couldn't handle the embarrassment. After about an hour of sailing, they spotted a rather big boat. It was not as big as a galleon but it was still quite miraculous. It was a bit bigger than a yacht and most probably didn't have a name. It had a sail which implied that the boat was being carried in the direction of the wind. Even though there was not that much wind it was still going faster than them. Hazuto whistled as he saw this boat then suggested

"Hey Ryuuji, let's go take that boat."Suddenly out of nowhere Taiga turned her head around and looked at the boat. This then meant that Hazuto and Ryuuji's accusation was correct. Taiga had suddenly blurted out, "And look, the ship has no crew just a lonely man sailing it. Come on let's go climb aboard."

The two men understood and Hazuto steered to intercept the ship. He knew they would have little time to board and that their small boat will most probably be destroyed. "Ok i'm going to try and steer next to it, you guys climb onto the rope then jump inside. I'll be their soon after you get on."

"Uh..guys. There is a little problem. I don't know how to climb a rope." Taiga said as her face turned a blood red.

"Your kidding right? Ah well your gunna have to climb on Ryuuji's back." Hazuto responded. Ryuuji then hoisted her up onto his arms. Taiga was very small so was easy to carry and she was also incredibly light despite the fact she ate so much daily. Hazuto steered the ship and lined it up neatly next to the frigate. Ryuuji jumped as high as he could and got a hold of the rope. Hazuto waited for a chance but was getting it rarely as the ship zoomed past. He had no choice but the jump and hold on to one of the ledges where a cannon usually would have been placed. " _Woah, this ship's quite old. I'd have expected more of a turret than a cannon_." Hazuto thought. He managed to climb up and was on the bottom deck. His mouth gaped wide open as he saw what the contents of this ship were and understood why it had no crew. It was a cargo ship. There were crates half opened with many goods inside. He could see so many different things and all of this would probably be worth at least a million yen. He didn't even see the other half of the bottom deck. Suddenly he remembered about Taiga and Ryuuji. He poked his head out one of the cannon ledges and saw them climbing onto the top deck. He half hid under the ladder as he saw the captain come out with a small pistol. " _Damn it! How could i have been so careless as to not bring a weapon?_!" Hazuto scolded himself in his thought. Then he suddenly remembered the katana Taiga had attacked him with. He poked his head out the ledge again and motioned Taiga to hand over her katana. Taiga had no intention of giving it to him, she couldn't trust this man. Ryuuji had saw what was going on and heard footsteps. It must have been the captain of this ship. Suddenly Ryuuji jerked downwards and tried to hide on the side of the ship. They would obviously be find soon. He snapped at Taiga. "Just give him the sword!" Ryuuji snarled. It was these moments when Ryuuji got angry and very serious. Everyone had been scared of him because he looked like a delinquent. He had the eyes of a killer which he had inherited of his father. When he snapped at people they instantly did what they were told to do. Even the palmtop tiger had not questioned him and dropped her katana where Hazuto caught it just before it fell into the ocean. As quietly as he could he climbed the ladder to the top deck. He tiptoed as fast as he could and as quietly as he could. He suddenly bashed the captain on his head with the wooden katana. " _It's lucky it's made of wood."_ Thought Hazuto. He extended a hand as he pulled the couple up onto the top deck.

"So, I think we did pretty good for our first day." Hazuto said confidentially.

"Poor man, he was making a living legitimately and we've just gone and ruined it." Ryuuji said which made Taiga feel guilty but Hazuto's face didn't show any guilt or remorse.

"Actually, he was more of a pirate than us. It's against the law for anyone to have a gun. Even on a trading route where there could possibly be some dangers, and look at this paper he dropped. It says this cargo is from Italy to Japan. Yet this man doesn't even have a license to trade which means he intercepted a trading ship and somehow took all this loot." Hazuto exclaimed.

"Well we can't just leave him here. He'll wake up and we'll have to knock him out again." Taiga responded. Amazingly as Ryuuji looked down the side of the ship the little schooner they rented was still in one piece. "I have an idea, we can put him on our old boat. That way he can get to Japan without us having to take him." Ryuuji said thoughtfully. They all picked up the man and Hazuto was quite impressed by Taiga's strength despite her petite frame. They dropped the man on the boat and watched intently for blood. "Nope, looks like he's ok." Hazuto chimed.

"Well, i'm going to try and clean up this boat. It's a wreck. Look at all this rubbish." Ryuuji said in disgust. Ryuuji had always loved doing housechores. It was very odd since everyone thought he was a thug but really inside he was a housewife who loved cleaning and hated seeing a sock by itself.

"Typical mongrel." Taiga said.

"Well, i'm going to look at all the cargo this guy has. It's probably worth a fortune. And Taiga will help me." Hazuto said as he eyed Taiga. Suddenly he picked her up and took her to the bottom deck.

"Hey put me down you sausage-dog! How dare you hold a woman like that." Taiga said as she blushed.

"Well to me, your more of a little sister. I think we got off on the wrong foot. So i guess this sort of activity will help us 'bond'." Hazuto said as he started snickering loudly.

"Hmph!" was the only thing Taiga could say. After about half an hour of looking through all the crates they came to the conclusion that it would sell for about 3 million yen. It was nowhere near enough for the hospital fees. " _It looks we can pay our rent for about a year. But even then we will still not have enough for ourselves_." Taiga pondered to herself.

"Well little sis, looks like we only need about 47 million more yen and then we are practically done. I can pay off my hospital fees and you can pay off your rent. Or even better you can buy a new house and pay for the up keep." Hazuto exclaimed.

"So you really treat me like i'm your little sister?" Taiga asked. Hazuto nodded and suddenly Taiga charged at him. Hazuto had almost no time to react but then suddenly instead of bulldozing Hazuto Taiga had hugged him. Hazuto felt tears on his shirt and had heart a small voice say "Thank you." Hazuto simply returned the hug. He had no intention of embraces like this but he thought that little sisters should get them once in a while.

"Now let me ride on your back sausage-dog!" Taiga ordered.

"As you wish, little sis." Hazuto responded. He bent over and Taiga jumped on his back. It looks like Hazuto really could befriend the fiery tiger. They climbed up the ladder and were astonished when they saw how clean the top deck looked like.

"Woah! You did all this by yourself Ryuuji? Well I can't say that i'm not impressed." Hazuto said admiringly.

"Ah, it's nothing. And I see you two have become friends." Ryuuji responded. At this comment Taiga simply blushed but Hazuto took full confidence and said "Well I guess she's my little sister now. You kind of have to become friends."

"Little sister? Well I'm not surprised that she hasn't attacked her big brother yet. She's always wanted a sibling she could connect him."

"Th-that's not true!" Taiga intervened into the conversation to try and hide her secret. At this the two men just started laughing and began to talk about dinner.

"Man i'm hungry. I'll go rustle up some dinner with the things we have on board." Hazuto said.

"You can cook too? Look's like I proved Taiga wrong." Ryuuji responded as he chuckled.

"Stop making fun of me! Just cos you can cook and I can't. Your both dogs and a dog can't do things that a master can do. A dog rolls over for a biscuit but the master doesn't, besides if i really wanted to cook I would have asked you to teach me. So Ryuuji, I order you to teach me to cook!" Ryuuji hadn't expected this sudden outburst but had smiled when Taiga had asked her to cook. Ryuuji had gone into the captain's quarters but only found fish. " _I guess it's sushi today then_." Ryuuji thought. He took two fish to a makeshift chopping board. Taiga was intently watching behind him and finally butted in. "Ok I get it. You want me to make sushi. It can't be that hard." Taiga said confidentially. Ryuuji had left Taiga by herself and wondered how long till she cut her fingers or made a disaster. Ryuuji had started walking towards the center of the top deck when he was suddenly jerked backwards by a rather strong hand. "Wha-?" was the only sound Ryuuji could make. He found himself on the bottom deck facing a rather proud looking Hazuto.

"Well what do you think?" Hazuto inquired. In front of Ryuuji lay two immaculate futons with probably the nicest silk around as a blanket. There was also a tatami mat underneath these two futons with two plates on top ready for food to be served and chopsticks lined up neatly on them. An even more interesting thing was that there were also two cups filled with water that had somehow been clean. "You did all this by yourself?" asked Ryuuji looking amazed at the amount of effort gone into this and how quickly he had managed to make it. He had started to wonder where he got all of these things. "Yep, I'd do anything to try and please my little sister and her husband." smiled Hazuto.

Ryuuji chuckled, "You don't even know how cheesy that sounded." They both started laughing at this but there was something else on Ryuuji's mind. " _Why is there only two of everything?"_ He was about to ask but then suddenly Hazuto said "Your wondering why there is only two right? Well it's for you and Taiga. Don't worry about me I got mine sorted but i'm doing this because with the time i've spent with you guys i've noticed that you love Taiga dearly and that you don't necessarily _need_ her to help you but instead _she_ needs your help. So i'm going to try and help you guys as much as I can."

"Thanks a lot. But shouldn't I tell her that you made this. Maybe she'll like her big brother better." Ryuuji inquired.

"Tell her what you want, I've only got two goals in life. To try and make both my sisters happy and healthy." Hazuto said look at the night sky.

"Your two sisters?" Ryuuji said looking confused.

"Oh yeah, remember when I said that I was trying to get 50 million yen for hospital fees? Well it's for my sister. 2 years ago my parents died in a car crash and my sister was in that car. She has been in a coma ever since with a slim chance of survival. But now it's been guaranteed that she will survive. But to wake her up it will cost 50 million yen. That's about $40,000 if you were wondering."

"Ah I see. Well it looks like you've got a good-hearted goal. My goal is to make my family happy, and I guess your my brother in-law which makes you family. So what can I do to make you happy."

"By saying that i'm already happy." Hazuto exclaimed.

About 5 minutes later a tired looking Taiga came in and said "You two better eat this sushi or else." They both tried it and Taiga was bursting with excitement by the look on their faces. "This is great! Since when did you become a good chef? inquired Hazuto.

"He's right, this does taste quite excellent." Ryuuji agreed. Taiga was very happy and smiled when suddenly Hazuto stood up and ruffled her hair.

"I'll be going to sleep then guys. Seeya later...family." Hazuto walked up the ladder to the top deck where he had somewhere and somehow made his own little personal space. Taiga and Ryuuji were left alone and while they were eating Taiga had only thought of the question now when it suddenly popped into her head "Hey Ryuuji, did you bring this tatami mat and futons along with these plates and cups full of water?"

"No, actually it was Hazuto who did it. I guess you can always rely on your big brother." Ryuuji answered. Taiga had blushed and then scoffed all her food down. "Eat slower or you'll choke." Ryuuji said looking concerned as always when it came to Taiga.

"Well I guess I can always count on you Ryuuji."

"Life wouldn't be fun if there was nobody to count on."

"Yeah your right, well i'm going to bed."

"See you in the morning Ryuuji."

"As always Taiga.

They drifted of to sleep unknowingly of what was then going around them.

The small boat had drifted onto a beach, there in front of it stood 3 men. The biggest man picked up the captain of the ship which was now under Hazuto's control. "What happened to the cargo!" The biggest man said.

"I was attacked by surprise, I never knew he was behind me." The captain had said.

"Well then it looks like your attackers have made a serious enemy. Nobody messes with us. You hurt one of us, you hurt all of us."

"Yeah that's right." the second man had now joined in.

The third man opened his mouth and looked towards the sea.

"You better watch out, the Yakuza are coming for you."


	5. Chapter 5: Danger lurks at every corner

"Hey Ryuuji, i'm starving!" grumbled Taiga. The next morning Hazuto and Ryuuji had awoken quite early, Ryuuji had started working on the breakfast while Hazuto started thinking about where to go next.

"It's almost done. Just a few more minutes." Taiga was sprawled lazily on her futon with her auburn her going everywhere. While Ryuuji was cooking, Hazuto had ventured through the whole ship. He had found many different documents all with places that were popular trade routes and areas which pirates were welcomed. There was a key as well, some of the trade routes had more advanced ships that were made out of metal and looked incredibly big. These were places Hazuto would try to avoid. He had found some old cannons and many cannon balls on the ship. He had also found some firearms and a lot of gunpowder. _Jeez, this ship really is an old timer._

"Yo guys, you might wanna have a look at this."

"What is it?" Taiga inquired.

"Well, what does it look like?" Hazuto said with an unimpressed expression.

"Um, a piece of paper?" Taiga answered. Suddenly without any signs Hazuto used is amazingly long arms and threw Taiga as high as he could in the air. Taiga full of fright screamed "AHHHHHH!" Hazuto caught her professionally like one of those trapeze clowns in the circus.

"Now that your awake. I'd like you to tell me. What do you think it is?"

"I feel sick." Taiga said feeling quite nauseous.

"Hahahahaha! The look on your face, but still you better answer me." Hazuto said looking quite amused.

"No wait you sausage-dog! Ok I'll answer you. Err i think it looks like a document."

"Your on the right lines, but be more specific." Hazuto said

"Uh..Is it a map?" said Taiga hoping she would be right.

"Correct!" Hazuto smiled. He picked up Taiga again and this time spun round and round and finally let go into the air. This was the last straw, Taiga enjoyed roller coasters but this one gave her the biggest fright in her life. When Hazuto caught her and put her down, she started walking funnily and eventually collapsed.

"Hey are you ok? You look like a pokemon that's fainted." He chuckled lightly.

"Ok breakfast's ready." said Ryuuji as he walked out the door.

"Well, it looks like i'll be eating Taiga's share." teased Hazuto. Suddenly Taiga sprung into life and shouted

"What the heck! First you throw me like a doll and now your gunna steal my food!?"

"Well, it's part of my brother job description. And besides steal is an overrated word. I'm just borrowing on a long term basis." Hazuto said nonchalantly.

"You take things too seriously Taiga." Ryuuji added.

"Dumb dogs." grumbled Taiga. Everyone started to laugh at this, even Taiga. They put their hands together for thanks and started breakfast.

"Wow Ryuuji, you sure make good food." Complimented Hazuto

"Don't mention it." As they finished breakfast Ryuuji started clearing up while Taiga picked up an old telescope and started fooling around. _She's just like a kid. If Ryuuji didn't tell me she was 19 I would've thought she was generally a child._ Hazuto went back to studying the maps, there was a local trade route nearby where they could sell the cargo on their ship.

"H-HEY! Hazuto! Ryuuji! L-look!" said Taiga looking as if she saw a ghost

"What-what is it?" said Ryuuji as he popped his head out the door where he was washing the utensils.

"Hand me that telescope, Taiga." said Hazuto. His face suddenly lost all it's colour.

"Ryuuji, have you ever hurt someone?" asked Hazuto.

"No. Well, not really." responded Ryuuji.

"Well, that may change today. Because there is another ship coming straight towards us. It looks like there is about 7 men on it, but that's not the problem. They just dropped a sail right now. And that sail says...Yakuza."

"Y-your kidding right?"said Ryuuji in a shocked voice.

"Why would the Yakuza be after us!" shouted Taiga.

"Because, that captain we knocked out yesterday. He's on that ship too." responded Hazuto.

"No way. No no no! This can't be happening! The Yakuza will never let us live! If we mess with one of them, they all come after us." said Ryuuji looking troubled.

"Well, there is only one thing we can do. Fight back. I know we might not win, but still it will give us time. Ryuuji can you steer the ship?"

"Yeah, I guess. Don't worry i'll try and steer away from them and confuse them. You know a bit like that British sailor. I think his name was Drake."

"Taiga, your with me. Don't worry if your stuck, just call my name and i'll be there. Now I don't want you to kill anyone. It will make matters much much worse. If anything don't attack them unless they attack." Hazuto said cautiously.

"Got it, you better not die. If you do i'll kill you!" Taiga promised.

"Same goes for you." replied Hazuto. Hazuto picked up the gun that the captain had dropped yesterday. _Full magazine_ Hazuto thought.

"Guys, just because your not going to kill them, doesn't mean they're not going to kill you." said Ryuuji looking very concerned about Taiga.

"Oh by the way Taiga, you might want your katana back I assume?" said Hazuto. Hazuto went to the bottom deck and pulled out her katana. Only it was much more dangerous. In the night Hazuto had sharpened the end a lot, so now it did the same job as a metal one just didn't cut as finely.

"You sharpened the end?" asked Taiga. "So you knew we were going to run into trouble, sausage-dog?"

"Haha, we're pirates you see? 'We pillage and plunder' as the saying goes. Just tell me a pirate who didn't fight? mocked Hazuto. The boat driven by the Yakuza was very close now but as Hazuto inspected it, the members of the crew looked inexperienced and worried. _Fresh bloods, huh._ The only men that looked like a challenge was the old captain and a rather burly man, he had a machete in a scabbard and a menacing look. _He may be a problem._ Ryuuji had steered the boat so that the bow was on the right of the ship. Both ships had started to become dangerously close and Taiga had noticed something dangerous. They had started to pick up grappling hooks.

"Hazuto! They plan on boarding our ship!" Taiga exclaimed.

"Alright i'll cut their ropes, I need you to try and cover me. Ryuuji shake them off by using the serpentine manoeuvre." Hazuto ordered.

"Looks like we're gunna have the time of our live! Hahaha!" Hazuto shouted gleefully.

"Zushiko , take them out. I do not want any failures." ordered the burly man. The old captain did what he was told, he saw the enemy ship come nearer and threw a grappling hook. He saw a small woman with auburn hair threatening him using a wooden katana. _This is their defense? Look's like this is gunna be a helluva lot more fun._ thought Zushiko who was also known as the old captain.

"Taiga you ready?" Hazuto asked. The small girl nodded, she readied her sword in a fashion across her left shoulder. She held the sword with two hands and waited for the grappling hook to reach their ship. The grappling hook whistled through the air and found itself on the side of the ship. Taiga saw the old captain expertly climb across. Before she knew it, she was facing such a large opponent. He was carrying a small dagger in his hand.

"Little girl. I think you've wound up with the wrong troupe eh?" Zushiko sneered at her.

"Di-did you just call me little? YOU BASTARD! I'LL WHACK YOUR BRAINS LOSE, YOU RETARDED DOG!" screamed Taiga in an outrage.

"Calm down, take a few shots at me. I'll just dodge them as easily as I can eat ric-"

 _WHACK_

"Sh-shit! DAMN YOU! Damn it that hurts!" Zushiko snarled. While Zushiko had been sneering at Taiga, she took this opportunity to hit him at full swing in the ribs.

"Zushiko! Pay attention, I don't want to send these men to clear up your mess now do I?" The burly man had announced. During all this drama, Hazuto had managed to cut the grappling hook.

"Look's like you won't be getting backup any time soon. Ryuuji! Steer away!" Hazuto shouted. Ryuuji acknowledge and went in a zigzag sort of line, by this all the Yakuza members were dumbfounded. They hadn't expected this and suddenly tried to steer around to pursuit them. Zushiko was on his own.

"So, look's like i'll have to prove myself. Well no holding back!" Zushiko screamed and threw his dagger at Taiga's head. She knew that he would throw it and dodged to the right, she jumped up and kicked his head. Zushiko stumbled but stood his ground, he threw a left hook which Taiga blocked. Zushiko was starting to struggle, he had lost his main weapon and was against a person who was skilled in the arts of sword fighting. Taiga started to move her katana up and down to show that she was about to attack, this also let her flow and allowed her to dodge anything her would throw at her. Zushiko threw a jab, Taiga ducked in a limbo style but suddenly she fell. Zushiko had kicked her using a right low. Taiga hit her head hard on the deck. She fell unconscious and blood started seeping through her hair.

"Taiga!"shouted Ryuuji.

"No! You steer the ship, I'll handle this." Hazuto said full of confidence and rage. Zushiko was surprised at how he had suddenly snapped but he just smiled _Let your rage out, get tired. I'll finish you off soon.._ Hazuto picked up the dagger which lay on the ground. He threw it as far as he could into the bottom deck. It would be extremely hard to find now. Zushiko had nothing but his fists. Hazuto had acknowledged this and got into a stance which meant _Come at me._ Zushiko liked his confidence and threw a combo of a jab, a left hook, a right uppercut and head kick. Hazuto, being so lanky, could easily move around quickly and strike from a distance. He ducked the jab, blocked the hook, returned the uppercut with a limbo duck and had dodged the head kick with ease. He then quickly headbutted Zushiko in the chest, where Zushiko had stumbled. Hazuto ran at full pace and threw punch after punch, kick after kick. Zushiko fell straight to the floor and as he expected Hazuto was fatigued. He was breathing very quickly and before he knew it Zushiko hurled his body at Hazuto. Hazuto knew how to counter this without using his fists, he crouched down and threw Zushiko's own body weight against him head first over Hazuto. They had been so close to the deck that, although Hazuto never planned to do this, Zushiko went flying into the sea below. Hazuto had noticed what happened and looked over the side. He was nowhere to be seen. _Oh damn! Argh first things first._ He ran over to the unconscious girl on the floor. He checked her breathing, it was at a normal rate but she was losing a lot of blood quickly. Hazuto took off his jacket and tried to stop the blood from flowing quickly by applying pressure. By this time Ryuuji had left his post and was extremely concerned about his wife.

"I'll look after her." said Ryuuji. "You steer the ship away from those Yakuza members." Hazuto nodded and looked behind him. The Yakuza had stopped pursuing them and went to the spot where Zushiko had fallen. They had brought out small rowing boats and diving gear. _Look's like the Yakuza really do care about their members._ Thought Hazuto. He then steered the ship towards the safest port he could find.

"Ah, Taiga what am I going to do with you." Ryuuji said as he thought out loud. He had cooked a lot of remedial food and soup using the herbs he could find on board. Hazuto had started on Ryuuji's and his own food and occasionally brought water for Taiga to drink. Although she was unconscious they had managed to feed her a surprising amount.

"Look's like she's natural to consuming food. Even unconsciously." joked Hazuto. Ryuuji started to chuckle a bit then yawned.

"It's getting pretty late, I doubt she'll wake up soon. Might as well wait till tomorrow." state Ryuuji. Hazuto nodded in agreement. They both went to their futons and drifted off quickly as they were both extremely fatigued.

"I think he'll live sir." reported a Yakuzan diver. They had found Zushiko moments after they reached the spot he fell.

"Wake up Zushiko." The burly man spoke with a gruff voice. He kicked Zushiko hard in the ribs and he suddenly awoke. He spat out water and shivered.

"Zushiko you failed me, as part of our code I will give you one more chance. If you fail me again you will be exiled from our clan. Do not disappoint me. The burly man left Zushiko on the deck cold and wet.

 _Damn those blasted kids! I'll get them one day..You just wait and see..._


End file.
